Pages: Locking Objects in Place

By Melissa Holt

Sep 5th, 2014 8:45 AM EDT

I’ve written before about how to use Pages to set objects (like company logos) to repeat on every page. That command used to be under the “Format” menu, but in the current version of Pages, it has moved to Arrange> Section Masters.

So that’s groovy, and it’s neat to be able to make an object repeat every time your work flows to a new page. But how do you anchor a single item in place without repeating it everywhere? It’s so hard, oh my gosh! This article is going to be ten thousand words long! …Er, not really. This is gonna be so short, I’ll barely deserve to get paid for it. I still will, though, right guys? Guys?

Ahem. Let’s continue! To lock an object so that it can’t be moved, start by clicking it once to select it.

Go to the Format panel and select the “Arrange” tab. If you don’t see the Format panel off to the right side, click the “Format” button on the toolbar.

On that “Arrange” tab, then, make sure the object is set to the “Stay on Page” option. If “Move with Text” is configured, you can’t lock your selection.

Then you won’t be able to move it again without going back to that “Arrange” tab and clicking “Unlock.” This is awesome—it means that your object can’t shift around accidentally. And here’s a special bonus tip for you wonderful folks: Under “Arrange,” you can also use “Group” and “Ungroup” on objects. To group things, hold down Command and click on multiple items to select them together, and then press “Group.” When you do that, you can move your selected objects around as a unit, keeping the alignment the same, and they’ll be stuck like that until you press the “Ungroup” button.

This works well if you set up a complicated diagram or flowchart, say, so the parts of your creation won’t get misaligned. I use this feature pretty much all of the time—I have a bad habit of moving stuff around accidentally, and this keeps me from messing up the documents I edit. Won’t you join me, fellow klutzes?